In Togo, police attack journalists protesting media law

Lagos, Nigeria, March 18, 2013--Togolese police on
Thursday fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse journalists protesting new
censorship authority granted to the government media regulator, according to
news reports and local journalists.

"We condemn the reckless and heavy-handed actions of Togolese police against
journalists peacefully marching in defense of press freedom," CPJ Africa
Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita said from New York. "Adopting broad new
censorship powers and then violently dispersing those who protest them are not
the actions one expects in a free society."

Police were dispersing
journalists representing seven local press organizations who had gathered in
front of the presidential palace for the last of a peaceful three-day sit-in protest
against amendments passed by the national assembly on February 19, news reports
said. The amendments grant
Togo's media regulatory body, the High Authority for Broadcasting and Commission
(HAAC), the power to, among other actions, summarily shut down news outlets
without a court order, news reports
said.

Sylvio Combey, president
of a local press freedom group who participated in the sit-in, told CPJ
that some of the police officers who deliberately fired on the journalists had
been identified. "We were not armed, yet the police were shooting directly at
us in a deliberate attempt to injure us," Combey said.

One journalist, Younglove
Egbéboua Amavi, manager of Radio Planete
Plus and head of another local press group, sustained a fractured jawbone
and mouth injuries
after being hit by a rubber bullet. Amavi's daughter told CPJ her father
had metal wires attached to his jaw and could not eat or speak. She said he
required surgery.

Yollanda Lovi, a reporter with the
private RTDS media group, passed out from the effects of the tear gas fired by
police officers, according to a public statement released by the press freedom groups.
The statement said that other journalists who attempted to help Lovi were also
attacked.

Security Minister Colonel Yark Damehane announced that
an investigation would be conducted into the use of force by the police,
according to news reports.

Under the new amendments, HAAC can now revoke the
operating licenses of Togolese media outlets without judicial process, news
reports said. HAAC is composed of nine members, four of whom are directly
nominated by Togo's president and the other five of whom are nominated by the
Togolese parliament which is controlled by the president's supporters, local
journalists told CPJ.

The new amendments sparked outrage from
journalists and human rights groups who began protesting on
March 12 to condemn the law as illegal and in contravention of Togo's
constitution. The constitution states that only a court of law can ban a media
organization after a petition has been brought before it by the HAAC.